Core Renovation Heat Pump: Viessmann vs. Samsung vs.?

Hello everyone,

we have bought a house near Düsseldorf, which we are completely renovating and adding an extension to.
Briefly about the conditions:

[*]Size of the old building approx. 120 sqm, extension approx. 70 sqm, i.e. approx. 190 sqm in total
[*]Old heating and hot water via oil and conventional radiators in the rooms; old heating system has already been removed
[*]Underfloor heating will be newly installed; additionally, air conditioning on the upper floor (i.e. the heating does not need to cool)
[*]Calculated heating load for the entire building approx. 8KW
[*]Photovoltaics will also be installed on the roof, max. output approx. 11KW
[*]The house will of course be heavily insulated, but due to the construction method etc., it will never be possible to achieve insulation as good as that of an energy-efficient house

Originally, we had an offer for a geothermal heat pump from Weishaupt (total price approx. 47,000 EUR), which we had already commissioned in August last year. However, Weishaupt never gave a drilling date, or came up with a date in May 2024 – which would be far too late for us. They moved this forward to the end of January 2024, but that is still too late and would cost us additional electric heating costs of about 3,000 EUR. Other drilling companies cannot be found... so the geothermal topic is dead for us.

As a replacement for the geothermal heat pump, the heating engineer is now offering air-source heat pumps. He made us two offers, one from Viessmann (Vitocal 200-S) including buffer tank for about 30,000 EUR and one from Samsung (Mono Block HT-QT) also including buffer tank for about 30,000 EUR as well. I don’t want to take Weishaupt anymore, and Vaillant is not offered by the heating engineer (no idea why).

Now, however, to my core question:

Are the two heat pumps basically recommendable, or are there significantly better suppliers? For example, I keep reading about Lambda/Zewotherm, but I’m not sure if the heating engineer would offer those. I am not necessarily looking for the cheapest model, but ideally one with an ideal price/performance ratio.

Many thanks in advance to the collective intelligence! :)

Take the one with which you have the best chance of timely delivery. You write that January 2024 would be too late. When do you want to move in, October? That would be only 8 months from now, and delivery times for heat pumps are currently long. Possibly the geothermal heat pump and drilling would have been the better alternative.

Take the one with the greatest chance of timely delivery. You write that January 2024 would be too late. When do you want to move in, October? That would be only 8 months left, and delivery times for heat pumps are currently long. Possibly the ground heat pump and drilling would have been the better alternative.

Thanks - we want to move in December 2023, but according to the architect, heating should start as early as October, since the house is completely cooled down. So your estimate of 8 months is exactly right.

According to the heating engineer, the Samsung is currently in stock, the Viessmann would have an 8-week delivery time. So both would work...

Really? We are getting the same (Viessmann) and online currently lists a delivery time of 8-12 months. Better get that confirmed again with the 8 weeks, it sounds very optimistic to me.

A Vaillant unit was ordered from us in October, delivery possibly in April. A larger model for the construction project is scheduled for September, so almost a year later. It doesn't concern you, but I can't imagine that delivery times at Viessmann are much better.

As a replacement for the geothermal heat pump, the heating engineer now offers air source heat pumps. He made us two offers for this: one from (Vitocal 200-S) including buffer tank for about 30,000 EUR and one from Samsung (Mono Block HT-QT) also including buffer tank for likewise about 30,000 EUR. I don’t want to take Weishaupt anymore, is not offered by the heating engineer (no idea why).

In general, actual heat pump manufacturers are to be preferred (e.g. Nibe, IDM, Lambda). The classic boiler producers are still somewhat behind in the technology, especially regarding the controls. There are also many manufacturers who purchase entire units and then only add their own control system and casing. This can be a boiler manufacturer using a Chinese heat pump or, for example, KNV uses higher-quality Nibe heat pumps as a base. Samsung/Panasonic come from the air conditioning sector. They have partly affordable and solid units (e.g. Panasonic Geisha). Whether they show lower durability because the "air conditioning components" tend to be designed for less lifespan remains to be seen. And if underfloor heating is installed everywhere, then leave out the buffer tank. It only costs money and efficiency.